2-Pager Abstract Template for NBDC Contributions to South Africa Forum




1. Authors

Authors names: Bharat Sharma*, Mulugeta Lemenih*, Birhanu Zemedin, Deborah Bossio and Tilahun Amede
Project Number: N2
E-mail address of lead author: b.sharma@cgiar.org



2. Forum session


4. Basin story – at the beginning of each day we will highlight basin stories these should be persuasive inspiring stories of change



3. Title

Fighting poverty through innovations in small scale irrigation and resource sharing: the case of Mada-jalala resettled community in the Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia



4. Key message/highlights

  1. Small scale water resources when harvested and used efficiently and the benefits shared equitably can improve livelihoods even under the most desperate situations.
ii. Community homogeneity appear to be a useful factor to facilitate self-organization and develop efficient institutional environment to utilize available natural resource for improving their livelihoods; and
iii. The famous “80:20 rule” needs to be validated as well for the Ethiopian Highland Landscapes- “the downstream 20 per cent of the landscape with assured but small water resource generates about 80 per cent of the total incomes from the total area of the landscape.”



Short abstract (150 words) including:
  • A brief description of your study and preliminary findings
  • A focus on what makes this piece of work new/innovative and exciting
  • What are the lessons (could be of failure)?
  • What is particularly relevant to the other basins or topics?






Add a visual representation (i.e. graph, chart or figure to highlight emerging results)




Your preliminary highlights for the Forum capitalizing sessions
  • Your message at local, regional and/or global level: Even in the least developed and remote rainfed areas inhabited by the ultra-poor communities; innovative and equitably shared use of the small water resource can generate sufficient incomes to meet the urgent family needs. For this to happen, local indigenous engineering skills must be combined with effective community institutions and local markets.

  • If relevant your message for Africa : In the rainfed highlands of Ethiopia and similar landscapes elsewhere in Africa, the small areas in downstream ( 10-20%) with assured water supplies need special attention in the overall landscape development. Effective resource and benefit sharing mechanisms for these small but productive areas shall make the entire landscape population more resilient and survive through the challenging non-rainy periods.

  • Your key target audience (researchers, practitioners, decision-makers) : The target audience for this message are the practitioners and decision makers.